Prevent 60 underprivileged children from getting dropped out from their educational journey.

Jharkhand being a backward state in terms of literacy having literacy rate of just 67.2%, takes the state to the rank of 25th in the list of Indian states. The very reason for this backwardness is that, since times, the maximum parts of the state have been overlooked because of which people here got diverted towards the wrong ways of demanding their rights like Naxalism and other criminal activities. The girls of this state have the highest rate of getting trafficked and indulging into prostitution, the reason being the poverty as well as lack of education among the community. Due to increasing cost of quality education, the children are compelled to get dropped out from the educational streams.

Pratigya is committed to Quality School Education for children and runs an innovative programme - Education Voucher. Under this Programme, children from disadvantaged section get a Voucher with which they can study in a school of their choice. If the child or parent is unsatisfied, they can change the school too. Here money follows the child, not the school. Pratigya in presently supporting in two districts of Jharkhand – Ranchi (urban) and Khunti (rural) covering over 130 students from socially-economically backward families.

Presently education of about 60 students supported by us so far have got on stake due to drop in resources from various donors during Corona Pandemic. We need to arrange for their school fees & stationary, else they will dropout. COVID-19 pandemic has hit almost every segment of society. Parents of these children are mainly daily wage labourers and farm workers and have been economically crushed during pandemic. Hence not even capable to arrange the stationary and books for their children.

Pratigya will directly support these children with their school fees and stationary. This will ensure prevention of their drop out due to resource constrain. The organisation also monitors their school attendance and academic performance on regular basis. Regular supplementary life skill training and counselling sessions for better academic performance and personality development of these children are being organised regularly under a separate programme namely "Srijan Bachpan" which means building childhood. The Srijan Bachpan programme has been globally featured in globally top 50 solutions out of 4300 solutions submitted from 174 countries. Sustainable Development Solutions Network – Youth (SDSN Youth is an initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network; a program launched by UN Secretary-General in 2012 to mobilize global expertise around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)) published this as a sustainable non-profit solution in its Youth Solutions Report 2019 which can be accessed in Page No.79 of the link below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hh9DmUo9G04K5tmoK2sM8SL2vW2yKmyo/view?usp=sharing

Supporting and retaining these children in their educational journey will help enabling first generation learners from the marginalized communities to become an educated person so as to break the shackles of generational ignorance and poverty of their parents. It will also enable children to be strong enough to stand and compete locally and globally. Moreover, the community will realize the need of quality school education and demand the same from the government. As most of the children Pratigya support for their education belong to the tribal population, hence this support will also enable the tribal children and community as a whole to be aware and educated enough to safeguard from deceit and exploitation.

Every year on an average 8-10 students appeared in Class X Board examination. Whether its State Board or CBSE, children who are being supported by Pratigya have proved that they are not lesser than from their peer privileged mates in any aspect. And, even in higher studies like Intermediate or Graduation, the children are accomplishing new achievements and reaching newer heights. Additionally the Srijan Bachpan intervention is helping these children in developing a sound personality with higher emotional well being and empathy towards society.